Interview Jan Konings KK: How did the existing community in Transvaal react to the project? JK: All of my projects have to do with people. The people living in Transvaal liked the project. For some of them it was because of money — the hotel provided them with a job. The most important part was that the project dealt with the empty homes and make the environment inhabitable again. The residents appreciated this. The intention was to continue the project for 12 years. Unfortunately, we managed to do it for just two years, because we ran out of money and had to stop. KK: After this project you did Hotel Experimenta, a mobile hotel. Although it also used existing local shops as facilities for the hotel, there seems to be a significant difference between Hotel Transvaal and Hotel Experimenta. JK: Hotel Experimenta is a very small hotel. It is the size of a single bed. One person, maybe two, are able to sleep in it. When you need to go to the toilet, you have to ask the neighbours. As a guest of the hotel, you get a map that helps you to find all the services. This structure encourages the guests to meet all kinds
ALL THE THINGS YOU WOULD NEED FOR A HOTEL WERE ALREADY AVAILABLE IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.
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INSIDE Architect
And there were some, who used to live in Transvaal, and wanted to come back to see their neighbourhood for the very last time. KK: Was everything demolished after the project? JK: Yes. There was also demolition going on during the project. It has everything to do with the way Dutch cities were built in the 20th century. We have an enormous planning tradition. We make very big, new neighbourhoods. Because of this, the demolition will be a big operation as well. The time between demolishing and rebuilding the neighbourhood will be around 12 years. During this time, the city is dead. In Holland we call this the tussentijd (the ‘time in-between’, in which there is nothing). I do not like the idea that there is nothing. In nature it does not exist. It is good for the city that there is always something. I want to enrich the city life during these periods. If not, people move out of the neighbourhood and shops start to close because of the lack of customers. Rebuilding a neighbourhood takes a lot of effort, so it is better for a city to continue.